Music by UTSA's Matthew Dunne featured on NPR

(Nov. 3, 2008)--A composition by Matthew Dunne, UTSA assistant professor of music, will be featured on "Performance Today," a National Public Radio program. The local broadcast of the show is 6 p.m., Monday, Nov. 3 on Texas Public Radio's KPAC FM 88.3.

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Featured in the first hour of the two-hour program, the composition "Did You See the Moon Last Night?" was recorded recently at a performance in Portland, Ore., by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. View the full program listings and listen to music samples at the "Performance Today" Web site.

Dunne is the winner of two awards from the Artist Foundation of San Antonio. Among 40 some nominees, he was selected for the 2008 Artist Foundation of San Antonio Award and the 2008 Tobin Grand Prize for Artistic Excellence.

"I am honored to have been selected for these awards from such a large pool of talented and accomplished individuals," said Dunne.

A guitarist and composer, Dunne has performed and taught throughout the United States and Mexico in both the classical and jazz genres. A UTSA faculty member since 1992, he also taught at the North Carolina School of the Arts and Marshall University. He received a D.M.A. degree in guitar performance, jazz emphasis, from the University of Texas at Austin, the first guitarist to receive this degree. He also earned an M.M. degree from Florida State University.

As a composer, his works have been recorded by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet on three consecutive Telarc releases by William Kanengiser on his CD "Classical Cool Jazz" and by Jerome Ducharme on his Naxos CD "Guitar Recital." Dunne composed the required piece for the Guitar Foundation of America 2005 Competition and has composed music for the San Antonio chamber series "Jazz Meets Classical" for several years. He has directed the Southwest Guitar Festival since 1995.

The Artist Foundation of San Antonio presented this year its third annual cycle of awards to Bexar County artists. Each award includes a stipend to help create new work. The awards recognize artistic achievement, dedication to an artistic discipline and the potential for further professional development.